Purdue basketball frontcourt leads win over Czech Republic at World University Games

Journal & Courier Purdue insider Nathan Baird on why the Boilermaker bench is so important at the World University Games.
Nathan Baird/Journal & Courier

Team USA's Vincent Edwards (12) shoots over Team Canada's Jean Emmanuel Pierre-Charles (5) in the first half during the World University Games basketball game at Carmel High School Friday evening, August 11, 2017.(Photo: Matt Kryger/IndyStar)

TAIPEI – Purdue basketball has taken its frontcourt conundrum international for the summer.

As Czech Republic discovered Wednesday, the solution to stopping either Vincent Edwards or Isaac Haas — let alone both — can be difficult to find.

Those Boilermaker seniors had big games as Team USA eased to a 107-78 victory over Czech Republic at the World University Games.

The Boilermakers pulled away from a 10-point halftime lead to improve to 3-0 in pool play. Purdue next faces Romania on Thursday at 3 a.m. Eastern. The top two teams in each pool advance to the championship quarterfinals, beginning Sunday.

Edwards scored 22 points on 8 of 12 shooting to go with five rebounds, three assists and two steals. He scored 13 of those points in the second half.

The 7-2, 290-pound Haas said he often faced extra attention from Czech Republic, and Edwards took advantage of a lack of help defense.

"My teammates did a good job of finding me," Edwards said. "They made some hustle plays to get me open shots. And I finally started knocking down some 3s."

Haas scored 17 points on 7 of 8 shooting. He also blocked two shots and did not commit a foul — something that had been an issue in earlier summer games.

"For me it was just getting big post position and getting great looks from our guards to to throw it in and me making plays off of that," Haas said. "Multiple times we set ball screens and they didn't have a low man or didn't react quick enough when I was diving."

Carsen Edwards and Ryan Cline added 12 points apiece. P.J. Thompson, who sat out Monday's win over United Arab Emirates with a hip contusion, started and scored eight points in 19 minutes.

Team USA shot 58 percent from the field overall and hit 10 of 22 from 3-point range. While 11 Boilermakers scored, the same 11 also had at least one assist.

"It starts with us taking care of the ball," Vincent Edwards said. "When we move the ball on offense, we get good shots."

Purdue scored the game's first 11 points and led 32-14 after one quarter. Czech Republic responded by shooting 71 percent in the second quarter and cut the Team USA lead to as little as nine.

Haas blamed bad switches on defense and not getting up on ball screens. Purdue made the corrections in the second half, holding Czech Republic to 37.5 percent shooting. Freshman guard Sasha Stefanovic contributed four steals off the bench.

Purdue coach Matt Painter used his bench extensively in that second quarter. Wednesday's game marked the first of three in three days for Team USA as pool play continues through Friday.

Haas said players must gauge for themselves how their bodies are reacting to playing in rapid succession and act accordingly away from the court.

"If you feel good tomorrow, you need to go work out a little bit of that soreness in the weight room," Haas said. "By the time you get over to the gym you should be feeling pretty good.

"If you're feeling sore, you need to eat a lot tonight. Eat some breakfast and kind of rest up, making sure you're stretching a lot, getting good hydration in you so you're feeling good for tomorrow's game."